Hello My Name Is...

The week long suspension....

William was getting cabin fever. There really wasn't much for him to do during a school day not spent at school. Most of his buddies were at school or at work. He sat at home, tending to his grandma, who slept all day. He had to constantly wake her up and have her move around the house, so she wouldn't get bedsores.

"William? Are you here?" she called out from the living room couch.

"Yeah grandma, I'm here! No, it ain't been be a week yet!" he replied from upstairs in his room.

He was busy cleaning his weed, picking out all the stems and seeds that smokers hated to inhale. He had something that most dealers didn't, customer satisfaction. He would do house calls during anytime of the day. He would compare his prices to others, and chop off a few dollars to make his the best in the area. Over the years, he moved up from selling 'Swag' dirt weed, to 'Midis', and was now selling 'KB' or 'Kind Bud'.

"What are you doing up there?" she called from downstairs.

"Nothing grandma, just doing some school work some friends brought over!" he lied.

He had asked for Bobby or Dag to bring him his schoolwork, but they were too irresponsible to do that for him. So he sat and waited, hoping they'd help him out. No one ever came, and he feared his grades would fail because of it.

In the afternoon, his boyz would come by and they'd chill for a little bit. They'd sit out on the front porch, smoking and drinking.

"Lemme tell you what, not for nothin, that white muthafucka is gonna get it!" Dag said as he took a puff off of a blunt.

Pugs took the blunt, taking a long drag off of it, "Fo real man, that bird needs a beating. Old school style, y'naw what I mean?"

The group nodded, except William. He didn't care anymore, he had more important things to worry about. School, his ailing grandma, even his repayment of Mars.

"Hey, don't give that blunt to him! He's just a fuckin kid you dumbass!" Pugs said, snatching the blunt out of his little brothers fingers.

"Aww c'mon bro! I'm fuckin fifteen, I ain't no baby no more!" Bobby protested.

"I don't give a fuck! I ain't got you going to school for nothin, and you better graduate too!" Pugs said, smacking Bobby over the head.

Back in school...

William was nervous, he had to take two make up tests in one day. When he had returned to school after the week long suspension, he was bum rushed with these two tests. He failed them miserably, but was allowed a retest after school. He thanked his teachers for the opportunity, he told them he wouldn't skip out on them.

They gave him a week to study up, and he took advantage of it. He spent the remainder of his time indoors, reading and studying as best he could. He only sold his weed if his customers were willing to come by his house and pick up. Otherwise, they were shit out of luck.

He passed by that emo kid Davey, who was talking to a pretty white girl. They were laughing and smiling, one would think they were dating if not best friends in the school. He smiled, he was happy for him. Last time he saw Davey, he was looking pretty glum. In fact, wasn't he that kid who tried to kill himself in class? Hard to believe now, no one would have suspected it by the way he was acting with her. An emo and a prep, walking and talking.

William heard about Clay, his accident, surgery, and recovery time. How it would take him out of the remainder of the school year. He felt some pity for the boy, but not nearly enough to apologize for what he had done to him. William had always wondered who had fucked up his ankle and foot in the first place.

Before school started, he went into the bathroom to smoke a cigarette in one of the stalls. He was about to light up, when he heard talking. He knew better than to light up with others in the bathroom, and there were at least three different people in there. Annoyed, he pocketed his cigarette and left the bathroom to find a new smoking spot.

He searched around, until finally coming upon the rear loading dock area. He looked around, saw no one was in sight, and lit up. No sooner had he taken two drags, did a group of skater punks show up. William immediately recognized two of them out of the six, that tough one, and the skinny crazy looking one.

They stopped dead in their tracks, eying William as he puffed on his cigarette. He looked straight back at them, almost challenging them. He knew the two he recognized wouldn't start shit cause they were the smart ones of the group. But the others, they were unpredictable. The tension rose for a few minutes.

"Sup?" the tough one, the leader said curtly with a head nod.

"Wuz goin on?" William said plainly, spitting onto the ground.

The others stared in silence, as their leader walked over to William and stood right next to him.

"Got a light bro?" the leader asked as he fished out a cigarette casually.

"I got you dawg," William said calmly, lighting up his cigarette.

The group leader inhaled a long drag, then exhaled, "Damn, nothin like a smoke to start your morning."

The others stood there, not sure of what to do. The skinny guy, the leaders buddy, walked up and joined him and William.

"Sup?" he said, offering a hand for daps.

William was impressed, this kid knew how to do daps properly!

"Dude, either go to class or chill out! It's cool, he's cool!" the leader said, motioning the others over.

They still stood idle. The leader waved them off with his hand, "Never mind then, forget y'all."

"Don't mind them, they're just scared," the skinny one said, lighting up his own cigarette.

"Why, cause I'm black?" William said bluntly.

The leader exhaled, "Naw man, nothing like that. If anything, cause you're a big thug. Don't pay them any mind though. I appreciate what you did awhile back, good lookin out."

The leader offered his hand for daps, "I'm Seth, this is Reese."

William gave daps and introduced himself, "I'm William."

Reese pointed to the others standing away from them, "That's Dan, Micah, Cole, and Scott."

"Sup guys," William said, giving a curt head nod to the group.

"H-hey man, " they mumbled.

"Hey Seth!" a girl called out from behind the group.

She was a pretty girl, with brownish red hair and brown eyes. She walked over to Seth and took a spot next to him.

"Ugh, you're smoking again?!" she protested, folding her arms over her chest in disgust.

"Everyone deserves a habit," he said with a grin.

Now that the the girl had joined the group, the others came over to the circle.

"Oh hey, Elle, this is William. William, this is Elle," Seth said, introducing the girl.

"Sup girl, " William said politely, shaking her hand rather than giving her daps, "You two seeing each other?"

"No," Seth said plainly.

"Kinda," Elle said with a wink, which had the others whispering amongst themselves.

"Sheeit man, there ain't no privacy even in a muthafuckin restroom! I gotta sit out here and freeze my ass off, all for a muthafuckin smoke!" William said irritably.

Seth nodded, "Yeah, it's warmer inside, but you have more of a chance of getting caught."

"True, that's true," William said, taking another drag off his cigarette.

"Yo William! What da fuck are you doing ova there?!" someone yelled a couple yards away from the group.

They all looked to see a small group of thugs standing there, in disbelief of the scene they were seeing. A thug with a group of skater punk white boys?!

"Having a smoke dumb ass, what does it look like?!" William snapped back at the group of thugs before putting out his smoke.

"Peace niggas," he said as he walked over to his posse.

"Be easy man," he heard Seth say behind him.

When William got to his boyz, they had looks of shock and bitterness on their faces.

"Yo dawg, what the fuck are you doing?" Sloop asked in anger.

"Yeah man, they were the muthafucka's who tried to start shit wit me a while back!" Bobby added.

"Those are the muthafuckas? What is keeping us from stomping their skinny white asses?" Dag said, taking a few menacing steps forward.

"Will ya'll chill da fuck out?! For the last time, they is cool! We got no beef with them, and they ain't got no beef wit us kay?! For shit's sake, stop hypin up yo egos' like it's some God damned pissing contest, and let shit go! We got more important shit to worry about, than some group of pecker woods!" William said angrily, annoyed with their grudges.

"Yo, I don know dawg, I don't think I can let that shit go! They was steppin last time!" Sloop said.

"Only cause you confronted them!" Bobby shouted at Sloop.

"Bobby, shut da fuck up! You don't know shit about shit, and your opinion don't mean shit!" Sloop snapped.

"Yo, ease up on my boy Sloop!" William said, stepping in between the two of them.

"You better back da fuck up offa me homey, for I lay you out! Fo real!" Sloop said, getting in Williams face.

Without warning, William swung on him, hitting Sloop hard across the face. Sloop dropped instantly, stunned and bleeding from the nose.

"You jus don know when to shut up do you smart ass?! Where's your balls now bitch?!" William said angrily, giving Sloop a hard kick in the ribs.

"Back up dawg, get off him!" Dag shouted, pushing William away from the semiconscious thug.

William looked over at the group of skaters still standing there. A few of them were watching and laughing, but Reese, Elle, and Seth were keeping to themselves. So it was an ass beating, big deal?

"Y'all better shut da fuck up for I come over der!" Dag shouted at them.

"Yo, chill wit dat noise! I said they is cool!" William said, moving in front of him.

"They's laughin like fools over there! They be disrespectin me Will!" Dag said, frustrated.

William sighed his own frustration, "Aight, this is getting stupid. Ball out man, let's just fuckin ball out already!"

William picked up his bag and started to walk away, "Pick his dumb ass up and get him to class! Bobby, let's go!"

"C'mon Bobby, stick wit me lil man!" Dag said, motioning him over with a hand.

"Bobby, if you don't come here, you're next to be dropped!" William warned.

"Don't listen to that broke ass nigga, he's crazy and don't know what he's talking about!" Dag said, reaching out to grab Bobby's arm.

Bobby was confused, unsure of who to follow. He finally turned and followed William, who grabbed his arm and pulled him along. Dag helped Sloop to his feet, supporting him on his shoulder. He happened to cast a glance over to the skaters, but they were gone by now.